(Antigonish, NS) Thanks to an overtime goal off the stick of Matthew Philip (Ilderton, ON) and top drawer goaltending by Subway Player of the Game Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON), the STFX X-Men took home a 2-1 win over the visiting Saint Mary's Huskies on Friday night at the Charles V Keating Centre. The win gives the X-Men a 1-0 lead over the Huskies in their best of three AUS semi-final series.
X-Men head coach Brad Peddle said it was pretty much the type of game he was expecting from both teams.
"At this stage in the playoffs, you take a win anyway you can," said Peddle, now in his 17th season with the X-Men. "I thought we persevered really well. It was the kind of game we needed to play in playoffs; tight checking, low scoring. You've got to find a way to win those games and I think for our younger group here to get this kind of playoff experience right way was real important."
Peddle said he felt his team had some good chances, noting SMU goalie Justin Sumarah (Halifax, NS) played well. As for looking ahead, Peddle said he feels the team needs to go into the rest of the series with the same mindset. Get and early jump, and realize SMU is going to put up a strong fight."
Saint Mary's head coach Tyler Naugler, in his second season as head coach, also felt it was the kind of game his team expected.
"We knew that it was going to be a tight series, we're going to have to win up here to win the series, it just wasn't tonight," Naugler said following the game. "We believe in ourselves. We'll be ready to go on Sunday. It was a hard fought battle, we just went though a hard series with UPEI, and I believe our guys will be ready to answer the call on Sunday night."
The teams were evenly matched through the first 40 minutes of play, with plenty of hits and a number of solid scoring opportunities both ways. Fittingly, it was AUS MVP and rookie of the year Liam Hawel (Arnprior, ON) who got StFX on the board first, early in the third period.
Zach Trott (Mulmur, ON) picked up the puck along the board and centered it to Josh Nelson (Lockport, IL) who hit Hawel with a pass in the face-off circle. Hawel held his shot and avoided a SMU defender moving in to block before beating Sumarah short side.
Saint Mary's was quick to pressure X for the equalizer and were rewarded just over three minutes later.
Jonathan Hampton (Richmond Hill, ON) knocked the puck over to Logan DeNoble (Peterborough, ON) after a face-off in the St. Mary's end. DeNoble gained the X zone and faked a shot before passing off to Dawson Theede (Brooklin, ON) for a tip in score.
Overtime started off in much the same way as the first three periods with neither team giving much ground. With just over five minutes gone, a point shot from STFX led to a scramble in front of the Saint Mary's net and Philips knocked one in from the doorstep. Matthew Struthers (Milton, ON) and Adam Holwell (St. John's, NL) had the assists.
Raaymakers finished the game with 23 saves while Sumarah, who was player of the game for the Huskies, had 39. After the game, Raaymakers said the win feels good, particularly after the layoff following the end of the regular season.
"They were probably a bit more fresh than we were because they had that extra series but we'll be ready for game two," Raaymakers said. "There were a lot of blocked shots, I've got to give kudos to our D and a lot of big hits too. It was the same on their side. It was a good checking game and it will be a fun game two."
The series now heads to Halifax for Game 2 on Sunday night. Game 3, should it be necessary, will be at the Keating Centre on Tuesday.
Recap courtesy of Matt Draper, STFX Athletics